There are several books out there who talk about your habit—and the thoughts and feelings that lead you to engage in your habit—as the enemy.
They talk about a monster, saboteur, beast, or pig that (metaphorically, of course) lives within you and leads you to into your habit over and over.
There is so much value in seeing that you are not your thinking. You are not your cravings, urges, shame, guilt, habitual and obsessive thoughts.
You are self-sabotaging because you are not the one making the choices during those times.
If giving those fleeting, temporary thoughts, feelings, and behaviors a persona helps you see that they are fleeting, temporary and not you—then please, persona away.
But associating that persona with a pig, beast, or monster seems to misrepresent what’s really going on and can lead us astray.
The uncomfortable thoughts and feelings that lead you toward your habit are uncomfortable for a reason. They are trying to get your attention, to show you that you’ve misidentified with your experience.
They are the helpful warning system. The intelligence of the human design in action. Our mental and emotional rumble strips.
They aren’t an enemy or even a problem. They part of an incredible, loving, supportive system designed as it was so that you can thrive.
The “problem” comes in when we misunderstand the system. We misread the signals.
We go around trying to fight our inner pig, or beat our inner beast or outsmart our inner saboteur. And we make things worse instead of better. Now, instead of understanding how a supportive human design works and getting out of the way, we come in with guns blazing and attention focused on the solution, calling it a problem.
From this misunderstanding, willpower, resistance, strategies and techniques make sense.
And the only problem with that is that those rarely lead to lasting change. They almost never lead to freedom.
Seeing how life—even our habits, discomfort, and the things we call problems—are supportive, allows us to work with this incredible design instead of trying to fight against it.
That makes all the difference.
If you’d like to finally experience true freedom from unwanted habits, worries, and anxiety, please join the waitlist for The Little School of Big Change. The next class starts soon.
Please watch the video for a more detailed discussion of this topic.
